"We've
had great success working with Nancy and the MPL team on a number of
projects," explained Poster. " We thought it would be a lot of fun to
record some holiday songs together!"

“I love holiday music,”
Matarazzo volunteers. “But every year I find myself going back to the
standards. I wondered, where’s the holiday record for this generation?
This was a chance to create something that gave today’s artists a chance
to put their mark on the tradition.”

Matarazzo particularly
credits Funk, avid multi-instrumentalist, house producer at Search Party
and guitarist for The Decemberists, for the cohesion and community vibe
of the project.

Funk oversaw several of the Holidays Rule
sessions, notably the very first: “We brought in Y La Bamba to do
‘Señor Santa,’ which was one of the more challenging songs, and we were
really excited by the result,” Funk recalls, adding that the band’s
dreamy, accordion-accented spin on the whimsical tune (a yuletide
variation on “Mr. Sandman”) helped set the tone for the entire set.

Some
of the numerous highlights include fun. whipping up a distinctly
postmodern take on the rollicking “Sleigh Ride,” adding a frosty techno
swirl to the winter perennial.

Paul McCartney continues in the
velvety mode of his recent pop standard outing, effortlessly conjuring
the warmth of the fireside with “The Christmas Song.” “Having him on
this record is unbelievable,” enthused Matarazzo. “As far as I’m
concerned, I could walk on the moon and it wouldn’t surpass this.” Adds
Funk, “Paul nailed it, of course. And the track is so masterfully
recorded that you feel like you’re in the room with him.”

The
Shins, meanwhile, take McCartney’s own “Wonderful Christmastime” in a
cheekily retro direction, turning the track into a musical homage to the
Beach Boys. Wainwright and Van Etten deliver a fittingly seductive
“Baby, It’s Cold Outside.”

Funk journeyed to New Orleans to
co-produce the Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s gorgeous collaboration with
Irma Thomas. Grammy-winning duo The Civil Wars, work their intimate
magic on “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” with only acoustic guitar
and their spellbinding vocal blend. Calexico’s “Green Grows the Holly”
works similarly spooky-rural terrain (with their trademark border-town
brass for expressive contrast).

Punch Brothers’ mandolin-spiced
rendition of the hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” is the most overtly
religious track but offers, as Funk notes, “some unexpected twists and
turns.” On the disc’s final track, Andrew Bird harkens back to his Bowl
of Fire days with the violin charge of “Auld Lang Syne.”

“Either
you love the holiday season or you don’t,” Matarazzo reflects. “But if
you do, you’re going to sing passionately about it. That was the one
constant in all these different recordings – that warmth, intimacy and
conviviality – those qualities that bring us all a little closer.”